I've always thought there were better ways to address a letter to someone who you don't know is going to read it, but that's just my own opinion. I personally like, "Hi There!" or "Hello."
Haha, anyway here is the logistical side of things. For those of you who do not know, I am currently living in Jacksonville, NC with my mom. I'm here to save money and raise both financial and prayer support for the UNC-Charlotte church plant.
The prayer and plan at the moment is to be in Charlotte with the rest of the team (Keegan & Amy Rice, David & Renée Johnson, Bekah Maier, and Shannon Beamon) by January. I have been looking and applying for jobs for the new year in Charlotte as well as roommates and potential apartments.
Right now I Jacksonville, I am currently job-less even though I have been applying diligently since August to a plethora of different temporary and part-time positions. However, I have been doing some odd jobs here and there, which is more of what I like anyway because I get to work hard for the Lord and bless other people more directly.
Personally and spiritually, this has been a difficult season to adapt to. Though I do attend the church I "grew-up" in (I only went there my senior year in high school, yet I learned my first lessons about Jesus there) and attend a couple LifeGroups, there has only recently (the last Sunday) been a singles ministry and it has been hard to find like-minded Christians. This season has been like an addendum to the lesson that I learned while at camp for a summer separated completely from Christian fellowship. Only, instead of being separated from Christian fellowship, my heart is simply somewhere else.
Now I want to make this clear, the church and fellowship I am with now is great. I love the church and the people. Everyone I have met there loves Jesus and this is one of the fastest growing churches in the country, so don't get a picture of a dying church or anything of the sort. It simply doesn't have the same culture as the one I have become accustomed to in the Great Commission Churches. This has risen a lot of great introspective questions that I have been praying and thinking though and has led to great revelations from the Lord. However, now is neither the time nor place to address them.
All in all, the truth that God is faithful has become ever more clear in my life. I now simply need to trust that truth and remember the great and awesome works that God has done in and through me. To end, I will share the verse I read this morning: Jeremiah 29:11-12
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.Now I am not "claiming" this promise as my own, because this was issued to Israel from God through Jeremiah in the midst of almost 50 chapters of "doom and gloom," as it were. I am, however, encouraged and reminded that in the midst of darkness and depression, God still makes provision for His people.
Thank you for your continued prayers and support!
